John Burchard, Sir Terence Clark, some coursing salukis, and a falcon were filmed in a chase by the BBC for the show “Pedigree Dogs Exposed”, showing healthy alternatives to most purebred dogs. Most of their footage (all but a half minute I’m told) ended up cut, but what is left is more than valuable. Patrick …
Author: Steve Bodio
Boletus!
This weekend we found some. Odd– not many, but HUGE, two the size of my head. Although we only got about ten big ones they made up into a generous risotto, a side dish with elk steaks, and two gallon jars of dried ‘shrooms. You can get an idea here: We had so many that …
In Memoriam: Bear and Bidaari
Bear, one of the last survivors of John Burchard’s Tepe Gawra salukis, died last week. He was 13. Int. Ch. Tepe Gawra Baariz, CC, CM, FCh (“Bear”)(October 9, 1995 – August 13, 2008)photo by Else Karin Rossebø, 10/28/2006 He was a great hunter and always a gentleman. Here he is at Casa Q in his …
Random Weirdness
Do you believe that these guys have Bigfoot in a freezer? As Tam says: “The find of an Appalachian Bigfoot is especially amazing, since the critter has to be stealthy, living in a neck of the woods that has had sports stadiums and outlet malls since neolithic times.” I mean, I love cryptzoology as well …
New Links & More
Sorry for light posting. Matt and I have both had deadlines (and his office is moving) and you probably know how busy Reid is already. I am writing some material that COULD lead to something big so posting after today will still be lighter than usual, though I’ll try to get in a review or …
Crotalia 2: Hot Snake
After the last post LabRat linked in Comments to a pic of the delightful little Crotalus lepidus, the neurotoxic but sweet- natured banded rock rattler. Around here they live at elevations from about 7500 feet and up, in talus slopes, and have a very short “growing season”. Because of this they may be less picky …
“Zoos and Flies”
Dr. Hypercube has an essay up linking zoo architecture, raising poison dart frogs, and how to design an effective (fishing) fly. (The last references my late friend Datus Proper, who died with his waders on while fishing Hyalite Creek). What these pursuits have in common is they all make an effort to communicate something intelligible …
A Little Garden Blogging
High summer, decent rains, garden roaring. Libby points at the Dahlias springing up from Patrick Porter’s generous gift. This is the first year we have grown Chinese long beans. Insects are everywhere. We keep our cardoon as an ornamental. This year we noticed that it is COVERED with insects, on virtually every leaf– not ones …
U and Non- U American Accents
Megan McArdle at the Atlantic has a post up on the all- but- vanished “Mid- Atlantic accent” of the old Eastern WASP upper class. This interests me because I remember it well, but I have the sense that it is virtually extinct. (Think George Plympton; William Buckley’s was a variant but very idiosyncratic.) Betsy Huntington …
Food and AR News
In Oakland you can have an actual farm, pigs and all. But in Chicago, the banningest city in the US (pigeons, foie gras, handguns), HSUS wants to compel you to cut off your dogs’ gonads. Of course they say it is a good thing. The Sportsman’s and Animal Owners Voting Alliance thinks differently: “The distorted …